RIP: Tom Bosley, AKA ‘Mr. C’, Dead At 83

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: It’s not easy to play warm-and-cuddly and smart-and-funny, but Tom Bosley, who has died at age 83, managed to do it. As Howard Cunningham in Happy Days, Bosley was a model TV parent: patient, occasionally wise, sometimes exasperated, yet blissfully ordinary. It’s not easy making “ordinary” interesting, but Bosley managed to do that, too. Bosley died of lung cancer in his home in Palm Springs, Calif. The most modest and charming of actors, Bosley was happy on Happy Days to be part of the ensemble, working with crack timing alongside costars Marion Ross, Ron Howard, and Henry Winkler. But Bosley had a varied career. He won a Tony for his portrayal of the flamboyant New York City mayor Fiorello LaGuardia in 1959’s Fiorello! He appeared in small roles in many ’50s and ’60s TV shows and movies before finding permanent pop culture resonance as Mr. C on Happy Days (1974-84). MORE

RELATED: Barbara Billingsley, who as June Cleaver on the television series “Leave It to Beaver” personified a Hollywood postwar family ideal of the ever-sweet, ever-helpful suburban stay-at-home mom, died Saturday. She was 94. MORE

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